Emanuel accepts White House job

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a wily, aggressive West Wing strategist under President Bill Clinton, has accepted the post of White House chief of staff for President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic officials tell Politico.

The selection is the first major public decision by Obama since he was elected in a landslide on Tuesday.

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Emanuel's deputies will include Pete Rouse, currently Obama's Senate chief of staff. Rouse is known among Democrats as "the keeper of the list" — key jobs and who might get them.

After meeting with his economic advisers on Friday in Chicago, Obama will hold his first news conference as president-elect.

Aides say Obama and his family will relax at home for the weekend, then come to Washington to visit their new home, the White House, on Monday at the invitation of President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. In a statement, Obama thanked the president for "reaching out in the spirit of bipartisanship."

The choice of Emanuel sends a signal that Obama is eager to work with Congress and plans a swift launch of an aggressive agenda that will focus on the economy, taxes, energy, education and health care.

Republicans attacked the selection, however. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement: “This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.”

Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant issued a statement calling Emanuel "a partisan insider" and referring to him by his nickname of "Rahmbo": "Barack Obama's first decision as president-elect undermines his promise to 'heal the divides." The RNC started a new series called "Obama's Broken Promise," starting with the naming of "Hyperpartisan" Emanuel.

Obama plans to move briskly with his transition announcements and has also decided on longtime aide Robert Gibbs as his White House press secretary. Democratic sources say he also could make quick decisions on his economic and national security teams.

"The chief" is sometimes known as the second most powerful person in Washington. The job has vast authority, as the boss of the hundreds of aides who work directly for the president, a public face of the administration on television, and a negotiator and salesman on Capitol Hill.

The appointment was the first Obama offered after his election, and Emanuel pondered the opportunity for about 24 hours. Friends said Emanuel accepted the job because he thought it was important to serve this historic administration despite the potential strain on his wife, Amy Rule, and their three children, who live in the Chicago area.

At 49, Emanuel is two years older than his new boss.

Emanuel had been on track to eventually become House Speaker. But friends say he decided the career detour would be symbolic of what Obama calls for in people and a signal of how important this time is for the country. Emanuel viewed the decision as being not about personal advancement, but about putting aside personal ambition to bring change to the country, the friends said.